Monday, November 4, 2013

A minimum of 15,000 pair of used shoes are being sought.
Four families are fundraising by collecting used shoes, in turn these shoes will
be sold to an organization that ships sells and ships them to third world
countries.All types of used shoes; sneakers, sandals, boots,
loafers, etc. are acceptable. The shoes just need to be in wearable
condition.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Yesterday was an overcast, gloomy day. Trinity was not in a very good mood. Unfortunately, it turns out neither was I. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite discouraged.

As the sun rose this morning, I read this part of a comment on a Facebook post by my wife; "It's an honor to serve your family and partner with you in ministry". My eyes fill with water as I typed that, even after reading it a half dozen times. Ministry. I haven't heard that one before. "You're a saint". "You're a hero". "I admire you." Other sentences, phrases, and catchwords that are supposed to be supportive, but leave me hollow, like I'm on a different team. But that simple comment makes me feel accepted and supported, part of a team. Not some lone wolf "Wayne X", radical, counter-culture revolutionary. It may be that I am, but it feels good to not feel alone.

At breakfast, I ask my interpreter what he thinks. "Is she bonding with me? Is she accepting me?" The reply is yes. He reminds me of what my expectations were. That I was surprised at how well she crawled. Amazed at how much she wanted to walk. How much she acted like a 3-year-old.

At the orphanage, she entered the room as before. Happy and Excited. The workers don't leave the room and I find myself searching for a way to keep Trinity's attention so she won't try to keep going to the workers. One of them asks if they can look at the picture book of the family that I brought. (Thank you, Jen!!!) I grab the opportunity to have their attention on something other than Trinity so that she will be attentive to me. We walk around for awhile. She plays with a plastic duck rattle.

The nanny starts asking questions about our family. How big is the house? Do we have a yard? Is it a warm climate? (points to a picture of G without shoes) I look through the pictures hoping to be able to show her what I am talking about. I am asked if we have a trampoline. I say a small one. It is square. Maybe a meter on each side, with a handle for the children to hold on to while they jump. There is a picture of us in the backyard. I point to the post of the playset and try to describe what it is. I find a picture of Seth and explain about his more severe cerebral palsy. That he is 6 (oops he is actually 8) and that he can walk, but he can't clap because his fingers are (Lack of words here so I try to show how is fingers are always bent). He can't really hold toys to play with.

The workers leave the room and I put full attention back on Trinity. We walk around the room some. I skootch (is that a word) her up the plastic covered foam ladder and help her slide down the slide a few times. She goes back and finds the plastic toy duck rattle and start shaking it. And it occurs to me, she may want to be a 3-year-old, but in some ways she is still but a baby. So I start rubbing my fingers along her cheeks and under her chin while making mouth noises. She starts laughing and smiling the best she can. My heart leaps. I feel connected to her again. After a while I start playing the Mozart cube and dance my fingers up and down her torso, across her face and through her hair. All the while she still is laughing and smiling as best as she can.

The nanny enters the room. The visit is almost over. I am told that the workers are comfortable now leaving her alone with me. That we are bonding. How excited she gets while they are getting her ready for visits because she knows she will see me. That they believe that it will be good for this adoption to take place. Thank you very much. I didn't know how much I needed your approval. To again feel like I am on a team trying to bring hope, happiness, and life into a world filled with death, disease, and despair.

So this is my "Orphan Sunday" message from those who have not been accepted by the world:

"To all of you who have chosen to love me in spite of my disabilities, shortcomings, and I imperfections. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It feels good to be part of a family."

Saturday, November 2, 2013

As we pull up to the orphanage, I get this feeling of deja vu. This place looks strangely familiar to the orphanage in K. Images of broken hula hoops, ball pit, and mirrored wall flash in my brain. As we enter we are met by the social worker and are told that the director is not here, but will meet with us on Monday to answer any questions we have. We are taken to a small office, and introduced to the doctor. She tells me what I have already read and already know. ... ... Needs Therapy. Can be done with Horses and in water. She tells me they do therapy every day Monday through Friday for one hour.

We are escorted to the play room. It is bright with yellow everywhere. Curtains, walls, mats, all yellow, not the dingy gray and dark blue I was expecting. Trinity enters the room carrying a toy dinosaur and it is "love at first sight". The unsteady gait, the yelling "aaaa!", non-smiling but joyous face, the dark eyes, the thin arms and legs. She is beautiful. Amazing. Wonderful. Beautiful. Trinity has a strong grip from the strong desire to walk even though she is not able to balance.

Electronic toys are brought and set out on the mat. Trinity is more interested in interacting with the human beings in the room. I am told that with assistance she can eat with a spoon and drink from a cup. Most of her play is with a Noah's Ark toy. Picking up the animals and holding them. I am reminded of her lack of fine motor skills (although they call it something else) as she bangs the toy animals together. I pick her up and she leans into me. They remind me that her birthday is coming soon. Yes, in three weeks Trinity will be three. Trinity crawls away, much faster than I had imagined. She likes to walk, so we walk back and forth across the room, her holding my fingers. It is time for lunch and for nap, so we leave.

.When we return in the afternoon, it is shift change. The social worker and nanny are in the little office with Trinity ready for our afternoon visit. We are escorted down to the playroom. While we are getting settled, Trinity moves over to where the Noah's Ark toy is sitting up on a bench and pulls it down. I get out a sesame street piano and start playing Mary Had a Little Lamb. She likes musical toys, but doesn't know how to play with them.

When she wanted to be held, I would play the Mozart cube that we brought and dance with her. This would bring an open mouth "aaaaa" as we spin around the room.

When she didn't want to be held, we started with the "walking to the door" routine. I don't know what it is with my new children, but they all seem to want to lead me somewhere that they're probably not supposed to go.

Please help get me home by making a tax deductible donation to my adoption fund.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

The 11 hour flight to Istanbul from Houston went well.The food was pretty good for airline
food.I was able to sleep off and on for
most of the flight.I had a 3 hour
layover before I boarded the 1 1/2 hour flight to Sofia.This flight went well also.My translator/guide was at the airport
to pick me up.I arrived at the Budapest
Hotel in Sofia at around 10 pm.

Day 2:

Sunday morning, I relaxed at the Hotel drinking coffee while waiting for my translator to come pick me up to start the 6 hour car ride from Sofia to Felicity’s
city.Needless to say, I dozed off a few
times while gazing at the Bulgarian countryside reminiscing about how much the
rolling hills and farmland reminded me of North-central Pennsylvania where I
grew up.We arrived in Felicity’s city about
7 o'clock had dinner and tried to get some sleep before meeting Felicity for
the first time Monday morning.

Day 3:

Monday morning came and we went to meet Felicity for the first time.Felicity was brought out of her room
clutching a stuffed bunny, so I was pretty hopeful that she would accept the
"My First Doll" that was brought as a gift for her to keep until the
return visit.As expected, she was not
to certain about who this strange man was that came to see her.Felicity was pretty happy, laughing with the
orphanage workers.Because it is
unseasonable warm she was dressed in a coat and hat and we went outside.We sat and swung on the swing most of that
first visit, trying to get over being nervous meeting for the first time and
learning to trust this strange man.We
found that making mouth noises was a great way to break the ice and started a
string of different noises to determine which ones Felicity would/could mimic.

For the afternoon visit, I opened the travel case of toys that we brought
for her to play.It was easy to
determine that she enjoyed the rattles and other toys that see could hold in
one hand.I introduced her to a little
electronic laptop toy that had animals and their sounds.She was very interested in the toy but needed
help figuring out how to use it.Felicity also quickly found that there was a pen and paper in the folder
I was carrying.She very much acted like
she wanted to scribble on the paper, but lost interest when I tried to show her
how to use the pen.

Tailgaters

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